Diego Pops — Restaurant in Scottsdale

Thanks to some recommendations I found on Eat Gluten Free AZ on Instagram, we stopped at Diego Pops near our hotel in Old Town Scottsdale for happy hour where all apps and margaritas are half off. They have a marked gluten free menu which is important to me as a Celiac. I was told that their fryer is dedicated but flour tortillas are stored near it, so to avoid potential cross contamination, avoid the fried foods.

After being put on a 15 minute wait list, we were seated outside. The weather was fantastic so it was very comfortable in the outdoor dining area next to the bar. On the table are 6 different sauces. Try them all - my favs were the pink one and the light green serrano one.

We got a frozen house blue raspberry margarita, 2 Diego (house) margaritas, a cheese quesadilla (not GF, but my husband loved it), elote (great), a bowl of tortilla soup (12/10 it was delicious), a corn cheese dip (fine) with tortillas rather than chips to avoid potential gluten cross contamination, and a pineapple pork bowl with coconut rice (not a fan.)

Between ordering our drinks and when our food came out, it was like maybe 40 minutes. We didn't mind because the weather was good and we were chatting and had our drinks, but our waitress kept updating us that she was on the kitchen to bring out our stuff. We were like, "it's fine." She came out 2 more times and said the kitchen had lost our ticket. Whatever, we were in no rush. Stuff happens.

She was super apologetic even though we didn't complain and the manager came over and gave us vouchers for 6 free tacos and comped our entire meal!!! We told them it wasn't necessary and we could pay but the waitress said it was thanks for being so nice and understanding. That made me feel sad that they clearly deal with a lot of rude, unreasonable people. It wasn't necessary to comp our meal or give us free taco vouchers. We did tip her in cash an amount that would have been 1/3 of the original bill.

Please don't go expecting free food but if you're in Scottsdale, please go check out the food at Diego Pops and get the tortilla...

Snap, crackle, pop! It’s got flair, it’s got spunk, but mind-blowing Diego Pops is not.

I was pleasantly surprised to meander in on a Monday night and see that it’s Taco Monday. How cavalier of them to abandon the trend of Taco Tuesday. How unapologetically against the grain! “This place is different,” one might surmise, and you wouldn’t be wrong with that assumption.

The menu, at a glance, appears fresh in both concept and ingredients. Nothing here is “traditional” Mexican cuisine; it absolutely feels curated to the “omg I luv tacos” girls you see on Tinder and Hinge, with its bright and colorful signs and sauces and spirits and clever/healthy inclusion of Brussels Sprouts in various plates.

We sat at the inside bar, and our service was overall pretty good and friendly, although they goofed on my order and didn’t correct it like they said they would.

I ordered a crispy fish taco, an al pastor, and a machaca beef. The food came out very quick, but was barely warm, and the presentation felt a little sloppy. Definitely not “insta worthy.” Somehow my fish taco had been replaced by a shrimp version instead, so I let them know, and they quickly sent out a replacement. But despite its quick arrival, the fish was neither hot nor crispy. And when I got my bill, they charged me for the shrimp taco even after telling me they wouldn’t, so I just docked $3 from what I normally would’ve tipped.

I want to like Diego Pops, I really do, but it feels like they’re pandering to a specific crowd, and that just ain’t me. And that’s okay! You be you, boo. It’s perfect for white upper-middle class club-going influencers or unassuming tourists who are inexperienced with real Mexican Food. It feels safe, know what I mean? It’s cute, it’s fun, the staff are beautiful, and duh, it’s in Old Town, so yeah. Just don’t expect to have a popping gastronomic experience and you’ll...

Over all the food was very good and loved the vibe of the place. Reminded me of this place is go to in italy and one ive been to in Miami. Everything was good except our waitress Adriana. I usually don't remember names, but hers i did because its the same as my grandmother in italy. We hardly saw our waitress. She was to busy flirting with guys that weren't her tables. We looked around for her a few times. She forgot a lot things too. She was to busy with other things than her job. She was also very rude to us from the start. Had an attitude that she was annoyed to be there. We actually had to kindly ask the lovely waitress serving the table next to us to help us. We even asked if she could be our waitress and we'd give her a $15 tip no matter what. But she couldn't switch sadly. She had very long black hair. Sweet sweet girl. I wish I got her name. We wanted to order chips and later something sweet. But Adriana was never around. And she wasnt busy. She only had us and one other table. This restaurant will lose money because of her. We did tip our waitress because we are not bad people. But in all honestly she didnt deserve it. Ive managed a few restaurants in my late 20s. Been a hostess, waitress and bar tender in my lage teens and early 20s. So im pretty understanding of the jobs. You can also spot when someone isn't good at their job. Maybe she'll be better after this reivew. At least in life you can always improve. But there was 0 excuse for her behavior. She needs to mature a bit. Other than this, we loved the place. ❤️ Loved the outside seating area. Even the restrooms were clean. Thats a big plus in my book. I even took a peek at the kitchen area. From what I could see and it...